Tie Game
by thehalfbloodprincess
Summary: Lily and James have a contest to determine once and for all who is better at... well everything. LJ fluffiness
1. Chapter 1

Tie Game

Chapter 1- The Contest

Professor Slughorn handed Lily back her essay on the many uses of the various parts of the unicorn. "Not your best work Miss Evans." He said as he moved on to the next table. Lily looked down at her paper, an E.

James Potter, who sat next to her because Slughorn insisted his two best students sit together at the front of the class, leaned over to look down at her paper too, "Ha! An E? I got an O!" he said triumphantly. Lily rolled her eyes at him.

"Only because I didn't have enough time to revise it because the irresponsible, immature Head Boy forgot." She breathed heavily, stuffed her essay in her bag and turned to listen attentively to Slughorn, who was explaining how the Strengthening Solution potion was used.

However she was interrupted by a voice whispering in her ear, "I still beat you!" Lily was furious: the one time James Potter beat her in Potions he had to rub it in her face. Not wanting to get caught talking during class, she scribbled on a piece of parchment under the pretence of taking notes. She slipped it across the table to James.

"_This is the first time you have ever beat me in anything! I could beat you at anything, anytime!_" she wrote.

He read it with interest, smirked and wrote back, **"Actually, I have beat you in quite a few things over the years, but name it and we can find out once and for all who is better."**

Lily was intrigued, but not quite sure what he was implying, _"What do you mean?" _she wrote back.

"**I mean a contest, a battle between us to see who is better at… everything."**

Now she was very interested. Competitive by nature, Lily agreed. _"Ok, I can beat you in anything intelligence related, anything to do with schoolwork."_

"**Oh, come on, I'm nearly as smart as you in almost everything, I'm better at some subjects!"**

"_Yeah, Transfiguration and Defense Against the Dark Arts, I'm better at everything else."_

"**Well, I could beat you at Quidditch,"**

"_I'm on the team too you know."_

"**Yeah, but I'm better. I always score more goals than you."**

"_Well, Quidditch is not my best sport. I'm better at swimming."_

"**I'm a fair swimmer."**

"_You've never seen me swim have you?"_

"**Well, I could eat more than you!"**

"_Eating? You're such a child. How about something that requires real talent, like chess? I doubt you have the attention span for chess."_

"**You've got me there, I can't stand chess. I only play when Moony makes me. But, I can still beat you at eating!"**

"_You never seen me eat either, have you?"_

James raised his eyebrows at her. This was getting interesting. **"Chess is too boring. I need something more interesting, with more action. How about a wizard's duel?"**

"_A duel? Alright, I think I could beat you at that. Now, we need a task that's creative. How about acting? I've always loved acting. It's a shame Hogwarts never puts on a play."_

"**Acting eh? I'm dramatic."**

"_Melodramatic, more like… Now how about one more challenge? Something out of the ordinary."_

"**How about cooking?"**

"_Cooking? Are you serious? You don't exactly strike me as the cooking type."_

"**Well maybe you just don't know my type."**

At this point, it was no longer plausible that they were taking notes as Professor Slughorn had stopped talking. He swooped down upon them to ask them why they had not yet started working on their Strengthening Solution. They mumbled something incoherent and got to work. As they began slicing ginger root, James said, "Hey, let's make this our first task, best potion wins."

Lily grinned, she was always the best in potions, and Slughorn tended to favour her, she would win this one easily. "Sure." She agreed.

The two of them concentrated even harder on perfecting their potions. James read and re-read each line carefully to make sure he did each step correctly. James smirked, Lily had just added powdered unicorn horn to her potion, that wasn't anywhere in the ingredients. He would win this one easily.

With ten minutes left in the period, Professor Slughorn came around to every table checking each student's work. "Excellent job Mr. Potter, a perfect potion." He informed him. Lily saw him puff himself up and smirk at her. "And Miss Evans," Slughorn continued, "This is magnificent!" he proclaimed, "I see you added Knarl quills to offset the unpleasant aftertaste of old socks, but those do tend to cause boils to form, but, ah- do I detect a bit of powdered unicorn horn?" Lily nodded. "Yes, yes, very clever Miss Evans, very clever. I t would prevent boils as well as giving it a pumpkin juice like consistency, rather than that of wet cement, much more pleasant to drink. Very well, top marks again Miss Evans." The bell rang from somewhere overhead. "Alright everyone, you may go."

Lily gathered her potion supplies, hitched her bag up on her shoulder, whispered, "I win." to James, joined her friends Mirena and Catherine, and left the dungeon.


	2. Chapter 2

Tie Game

Chapter 2- Quidditch

Over the next few weeks James had not once mentioned Lily's agreement to participate in this competition with him. Lily was not sorry, the less time she had to spend with James Potter the better. Actually this year, he had at least refrained form hexing the innocent, but it was only October he still had plenty of time to screw up. And he was still irritating and arrogant.

One day though, he did mention it. He had not forgotten as Lily had hoped, merely waited for the Quidditch season to begin so they could have their next task. One cool but bright October morning, he approached her and her friends Mirena and Catherine in the Common Room. "So Evans," he began, "How about we hold the next leg of our little contest tonight after Quidditch practice. I've already asked Alanna to be keeper for us and she agreed."

"Of course she did, she'd do anything to spend more time with you. She's in love with you." Said Mirena, "And what's this contest you're talking about?"

James opened his mouth, but Lily cut in front of him, "I stupidly agreed to enter this ridiculous contest with him." She said, "It's to decide who's better at everything. Well at: Potions, Quidditch, Chess, Cooking, Dueling, Eating, Swimming and Acting. And so far, I'm winning." She added smugly.

"Well, not for long," said James, "You may be better than me at potions, but I'm much better at Quidditch."

"We'll see about that, won't we Potter? Tonight after practice it is." She replied, and she and Mirena and Catherine went down to breakfast.

A short while after they had taken their seats, The Marauders joined them, "Hey Red, Bookworm." Sirius greeted Lily and Catherine respectively, whispered "Hey Love." and slipped in next to Mirena, while James, Peter and Remus took the other side of the table. Lily turned her head to exchange exasperated looks with Catherine over the fact that Sirius was still refusing to call anyone by their actual names and they would once again have to eat with The Marauders just because Sirius and Mirena were going out. Catherine however was busy; she waved and smiled at Remus, then quickly put her head down and stared at her porridge to hind her flushed ckeeks. Lily rolled her eyes and enjoyed a quiet, uneventful breakfast; until Remus and James began playing "monkey in the middle" with Peter's orange, got told off by Professor McGonagall and fled the Great Hall, heading towards the Quidditch pitch.

James, Sirius, and Lily continued along the lawn to the change rooms, while Remus, Peter, Mirena and Catherine retreated to the stands to watch.

After the practice, everyone left save Alanna, James, Lily and Sirius, who was there to be the referee. "Ok," said Sirius, "Here's how this is going to work; Prongs and Red each get 10 shots on the hoops. Most goals wins. Freckles," he said indicating Alanna, "You're gonna try and save the shots. Easy enough?" they all nodded in agreement. "Alright Red, Ladies first."

Alanna soared up to defend the hoops, while Lily mounted her broom and picked up the Quaffle. She took aim and threw it easily through the left hoop, Mirena and Catherine cheered. Alanna retrieved the Quaffle and threw it to James, he too scored easily his friends went wild. Lily missed the next two, scored three more, missed one, and scored two more. James scored three, then missed two, then scored one, then missed one, then scored one. "It's tie game," called Sirius, "One more shot each. This was her last shot; Lily deaked left, then threw the Quaffle to the hoop on the right. Alanna dove quickly and knocked it away from the hoop at the last second with the tips of her fingers. It was James's turn; the Quaffle soared through Alanna's outstretched arms into the centre hoop. "And Prongs is the winner." Announced Sirius.

Alanna flew down and to congratulate James, but he shook her off and went to go join Lily in the change room.

James and Lily took a long time in the change room because they were still arguing over that last goal. They exited the change room together. "It's tie game now Evans." He said with an air of supreme arrogance that annoyed Lily tremendously. "Only because Alanna's completely gaga over you and let that last goal in easily. It really was a terrible shot." She said justifying her loss.

"Ok, Evans, whatever you say." He said.

"And like I said before, Quidditch is hardly my best sport, I'm much better at swimming, just wait until we go swimming, I'll beat him by a long shot, I'm an amazing swimmer. Well at least I used to be before I came to Hogwarts, when I was still living as a muggle. Now I only swim in the summer. I should start practicing! But where to practice? The Lake is freezing this time of year. I guess there is always the Prefects' Bathroom tub, even if it is quite small. I don't practice Quidditch very much, that's why I'm not as good. I don't even like Quidditch all that much." She continued on like this, for quite a long time. She didn't even notice Mirena, Catherine, Remus, Sirius and Peter joining them. They let her ramble on; evidently she was not used to losing at anything.

James had never before realized how sensitive Lily was about losing. He used to be like that, but after numerous blows to his ego, and Lily constantly telling him how arrogant he was, he had deflated his head a bit. Now that he thought about it, Lily was being a little hypocritical; she was almost as arrogant a James was. By the time they had reached the portrait hole, her rambling had built up her confidence again.


	3. Chapter 3

Tie Game

Chapter 3- Hogsmeade and Chess

"Password?" demanded the Fat Lady.

"Blubbering Bowtruckles." Replied Sirius, clambering through the portrait hole, and everyone followed suit. Lily was last to enter. As she pulled herself through, into the common room, she heard Sirius exclaim, "Oi, mates! Hogsmeade next weekend!"

"Brilliant!" replied James, "I need to stock up on some Dr. Filibuster's."

"Me too," agreed Sirius, "I'm fresh out from when we set them off in Minnie's class." They both grinned and laughed in reminiscence.

"Minnie?" inquired Mirena.

"McGonagall." Sirius told her, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. When she still looked dubious he said, "Minnie, like Minerva…"

"Oh, I get it. You have nicknames for the teachers too?" she asked a little unnerved by it.

"Of course I do Love." He said, then kissed her and she forgot his oddness. "Anyways, are you accompanying me to Hogsmeade next weekend?" he asked.

"Of course I am." She said and kissed him back.

This gave James an idea. It was something he hadn't done all year and he thought he might possibly be going into withdrawal. Lily was halfway up to the girls' dormitory, but James called, "Hey, Evans, wait!" Anticipating what was coming next, Lily prepared herself to reject him once again. She looked up at him expectantly. "Are you planning on going to Hogsmeade?" he asked her.

"Yes Potter," she told him, "But not with you. I'm going with Catherine and Mirena.

But James had also anticipated this response, "Ah yes, but you see with Mirena dating Sirius, and Catherine and Remus being completely in love with each other but too shy to do anything about it, your friends, will be spending a considerable amount of time with my friends, therefore forcing the two of us together. So I thought to myself: Why not make it official? Not like a date or anything. It'll just be a big group thing. Just as friends." He finished, giving her his most charming grin.

She considered him for a moment, pursing her lips. He had been acting a bit more civil lately, and then there was the inescapable truth that it was pretty much inevitable they would be spending the duration of the day together anyways. "Alright Potter," she gave in, but added firmly, "But just as friends!"

"Just as friends." James assured her, then skipped off to go tell his friends.

The morning of the Hogsmeade trip came quickly and Lily war regretting her decision to go with James. On the way down to breakfast, she voiced her concerns to Catherine and Mirena. "Why did I agree to go with him? I'm such an idiot." She said as they waited for the staircase to stop moving. "Oh, Lily you're not an idiot." Consoled Catherine.

"Yeah," said Mirena, "You've just become mere mortal like the rest of us and become susceptible to the Potter charm."

Lily gave her a scorching look. Catherine interjected, "Didn't you two agree you were going as just friends?" She reminded her.

"Yeah, but we all know it's not going to end up that way. James's mind just doesn't work that way." Said Lily.

"She's got a point you know," added Mirena, "What with Sirius and I dating and Catherine and Remus practically dating-" Catherine blushed, and turned around to stare at something non-existent, "It'll just be you and James."

"And don't forget Pettigrew," sighed Lily, "The giant, ever-present seventh wheel…"

"Don't worry, it won't be that bad," Catherine reassured her, "And if it is, we'll be there to save you." With this encouraging thought in her mind, Lily quickly finished her bowl of cereal and hurried out of the castle to where the horseless carriages stood ready to take them to Hogsmeade.

The Marauders were already there waiting for them. As they drew level with the boys, Sirius slipped his arm around Mirena's shoulders and even Remus and Catherine clasped hands. James looked at Lily hopefully, his arm halfway there. "Don't even think about it Potter." She warned, and with a last despairing look at her friends she climbed into a carriage with James and was soon joined by Peter. When the carriage stopped moving, they got out and joined the rest of the friends.

"Where to first?" asked James to no one in particular.

"Honeydukes!" suggested Peter eagerly. No one said anything to the contrary so they entered the already packed sweet shop.

They loaded their arms with plenty of Drooble's Best Blowing Gum, Licorice Wands, Pepper Imps, Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, Jelly Slugs, Chocolate Frogs, and Sugar Quills, and dumped them on the counter. They paid for them and left hurriedly. When the last of the group had finally squeezed through the door, they set off down the street to Zonko's.

As Zonko's was nearly at the other end of the village, they munched on some candy on the way. James and Lily were sharing a bag on Every Flavour Beans, Lily bit into a grayish bean that turned out to be Toe Jam. "Mmmm!" she said enthusiastically, "James, I think this one is marshmallow. You have to try it!"

"Oh yeah?" said James. He backed up a few steps and opened his mouth, "Throw it!" he called.

She took aim and threw it perfectly into his mouth, "Ten points!" she cried.

"Blargh!" James choked, "That wasn't marshmallow! I'll get you for that Evans!" he threatened playfully. He began pelting beans at her. Lily ran shrieking down the street. She bent double from laughter, and hid behind Catherine.

A bean aimed at her hit Remus in the forehead, "Hey!" he said, grabbing a handful of his own bag of Every Flavour Beans. But he missed too, instead he hit Mirena. By that time, everyone had joined in a full-fledged war of bean pelting.

When they finally reached Zonko's, the Marauders stocked up on pranking supplies, and even Mirena, Catherine and Lily bought a few Dungbombs apiece. They visited a few more shops along the main street, and had a drink in The Three Broomsticks.

On their way to the carriages to take them back to Hogwarts, it began to rain. They put on the hoods of their cloaks and ran to the carriages. They were soaking wet when they got back to Hogwarts. They headed to the common room so they could return to their dormitories and change into warm, dry clothes. On the way up a staircase Lily asked James, "Do you want to play chess when we get back?"

Normally he would have sighed and tried to postpone it as chess was not one of his favourite games, but he had had a lot of fun with Lily today, and was eager for the "date" to continue. "Sure." He replied, "Just as long as I can get changed out of these." He indicated his sodden clothes. Lily nodded.

They went straight to their dormitories to change and retrieve their chess sets. Lily and James both returned dressed in their pajamas: a white tank top and some grey sweat pants for Lily, and plaid pajama bottoms and an old blue shirt for James. Mirena, Catherine, Remus, Wormtail, and Sirius were all dressed in similar attire; it had been a long day and they wanted to be comfortable. James and Lily lay down on the hearth rug with the chess board between them. The others spread themselves out around the room in the various armchairs, either reading, doing homework, watching James and Lily play, or talking amongst themselves.

"White goes first." Said James nodding towards Lily's white men.

"I know," she said in a slow, pensive voice, "I'm just deciding what strategy would work best on you. I've seen you play with Remus a couple times so I know a lot about your style."

"You pay way too much attention to these kinds of things. I could never do that, it's too much work." he said.

"That's surprising considering you've been doing something similar ever since you met me." She said coyly. She moved her knight.

"Have I?" asked James. He had no earthly idea what she was talking about. He too moved his knight. Lily was deep in thought and did not respond right away, they played in silence for quite a long time until James repeated, "Have I?"

Lily shook her head and came out of her reverie. "Of course you have. You've played careful attention to a certain someone's habits and style."

A light turned on in James's head, "Oh," he thought, "She's talking about me paying attention to her all these years." They made a few more moves each.

"And your objective has always been the same." Lily continued smirking. She could tell by the look on his face that James had understood this time.

James thought to himself, "_Your objective has always been the same…_she had said, I guess she's referring to the fact that trying to get her to go on a date with me constantly, is like in chess when your objective is to check the other person's king."

Lily took down a fair amount of James's men, before he realized he kept making the same mistake and she was taking advantage of it. He corrected himself and began to change his approach a bit. Lily grinned, "You play chess just like you live your life. You tried the same move over and over, but when it finally got through to you that it wasn't working, you changed your strategy and now… it's working."

It took James a moment to process this information, "Ok, so the whole same move over and over thing, was the asking her out constantly," he thought to himself, "Then the changing my strategy was when I stopped asking her out and tried to be nicer, and less arrogant. _"And now… it's working." _ What does that mean? Does it mean what I think it means? Could Lily Evans possibly like me, even just a little bit, or was she just referring to her agreeing to go out with me to Hogsmeade." James was not paying much attention to the game at this point and made a few careless errors.

Lily smiled triumphantly and moved her queen three spaces to the right, "Checkmate." She said, "You were close there James. Good game. Maybe next time. I'm tired, I'm going to go to bed now, see you tomorrow."

"Uh thanks. G'night." Said James. Now he was really confused. He thought, "_"You were close there James. Good game. Maybe next time._" What did that mean? Was she really just referring to the game or did she mean life as well? Was it possible to be close to liking someone?" His brain hurt, it was too late to be analyzing things like this. He said goodnight to his friends and retreated to his dormitory to ponder why girls had to be so cryptic about their feelings.


	4. Chapter 4

Tie Game

Chapter 4- Cooking

The next fortnight passed in a blur of Quidditch practices, preparing for Christmas, lots of homework, and Head Boy and Girl duties. Lily and James had hardly anytime to spare for leisure, let alone their competition. They were both looking forward to the Christmas holidays, when they would both be going home to their families and get a break from school work.

On the last day of classes before the break, James and Lily exited the Potions dungeon. "Only one more class to go." James said in a relieved tone.

"Yeah, I can't wait to get to dinner, I'm starved." Groaned Lily, "All that Amortentia made me smell my mother's homemade apple pie."

"I know what you mean." empathized James, "Hey, here's an idea, " he said coking his head and raising his eyebrows in what most considered to be a charming fashion, "How about, we forget about Muggle Studies, go down to the kitchens and have our cooking part of our competition?"

Lily pursed her lips, "I've never missed a class before…" she said, unsure.

James gaped openly, then he realized he should have expected as much from Lily. "Well, it's something you definitely need to experience once in your life." He said, "And, it's not like you need the lesson you get perfect on every test, and Professor Quigley loves you, she won't mind you missing one class." He grinned at her cheekily, awaiting her response.

A sudden reckless urge seized Lily, "Alright, let's go. One class couldn't hurt." They changed directions and headed back to the first floor. They turned down a narrow corridor and stopped at the picture of a bowl of fruit. James tickled the pear and led the way into the kitchen.

The Hogwarts House Elves welcomed them into the kitchen and immediately began offering pastries and cakes to them. They obviously knew James for they greeted him warmly and asked if he would like his usual. When they explained to them that tonight, they wanted to cook for themselves, they were slightly taken aback, and possibly even a little bit offended at first, but they led them graciously into their magnificent kitchen.

It was the perfect place for a task like this; there were dozens of stoves, sinks, countertops, and cupboards and fridges laden with every type of food imaginable.

"Ok, the rules," said James, "Our meal will consist of an appetizer, an entrée, a drink, and a dessert, we have one hour to prepare the food. Three impartial judges will judge them on taste and on presentation. Other than that, no restrictions."

"Hang on." Lily said, "There is one more restriction; no magic."

"None?" asked James.

"None at all." She stated simply.

"Fine, I'm up to the challenge," alleged James, "On our marks, get set, go!"

They each hurried to separate side of the kitchen. Lily headed to the cupboard for flour and sugar for her dessert because she knew it would take the longest. James on the other hand started on his entrée. The worked in silence for a few minutes, each concentrating on the task at hand until Lily broke it, expressing her worry. "I can't believe I'm skiving off class for this." She said.

"Relax Evans, it's the last day before break, it's not like we're learning anything new. Besides it's Muggle Studies, you're Muggleborn, you know all the course material already. Replied James, "I don't even know why you took the class."

"We've been over this before James, I just wanted to see what it was like to study Muggles from a wizard's perspective!" said Lily exasperatedly. She had been asked this question many times before.

She began chopping various vegetables with slightly more vigour than was entirely necessary. "Why did you take the class then?" Lily asked, even though James who was a pureblood wizard was probably completely ignorant about Muggles and had every right to take the class.

"Actually, to tell you the truth, I had one option left and it was either Muggle Studies or Divination, so I went with Muggle Studies." He replied.

"I don't blame you." Said Lily as she peeked at something inside the oven.

Things went smoothly over the course of the remainder of the hour. Other than a small incident involving a flying bread knife and a rogue potato, things went rather better than expected.

James and Lily put the final touches on their dishes, assembled a panel of three impartial House Elf judges, and set a table for themselves. The Elves were to give each dish a mark out of ten on presentation and taste. The highest total amount of points wins.

They began with the appetizers. Lily brought out three House Elf size portions of "Potato Skins loaded with cheese, bacon bits, chives and sour cream to dip." Lily announced proudly, "It's a family favourite." She was awarded seven presentation points, and nine for taste.

James balanced three dishes on one arm, performed a complicated little pirouette and donned a fairly bad Italian accent, "Bruschetta bread." He informed the judges. He received eight points for both presentation and taste.

Next was the entrée. Lily's dish of steak and mixed vegetables earning her seven points for presentation and taste could not compete with James's Grilled Chicken Breast on a bed of Fettuccine Alfredo which received eight for presentation and nine for taste.

For drinks, Lily had made an interesting combination of pumpkin juice and Butterbeer topped with whipped cream which got excellent reviews from the Elves, eight for presentation and ten for taste. James drink was simple elf made wine but with a touch of Gillywater and a cherry on top. He got eight for both presentation and taste.

Last came the dessert, Lily had prepared the wonderful apple pie she had been craving since potions class topped with whipped cream and vanilla ice cream, which earned her eight for presentation and nine for taste. For a grand finale, James produced a marvelous chocolate brownie with chocolate truffles ice cream, topped with whipped cream and drizzled in chocolate liquor. The judges were astounded and awarded him perfect marks. The final score was Lily-65 points, James-70 points. James refrained from doing a victory dance but with difficulty, though he did remind her that it was a tie game once again. The House Elves congratulated James, then left them to enjoy their meal.

Lily and James sat down to the feast that lay before them. They were both extremely hungry. They helped themselves to large portions of everything. "Wow, this is amazing!" said Lily, indicating the Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo with her fork, "Everything is. Where did you learn to cook like that?" she asked.

"My mom's into all that gourmet stuff," James replied after swallowing a mouthful of steak, "I guess I kind of picked it up over the summer holidays. I actually really enjoy it now."

"Well you really do learn something new every day; James Potter is a very accomplished cook." She said impressed against her own will, "My parents don't really cook much, and when they do, it's more comfort food than gourmet, as you can see."

"It's still very good, just in a different way." Said James sincerely, "Besides, I can't wait to get started on that apple pie, it looks delicious." They cleared their plates and began on dessert.

James was having a lot of fun and did not want to ruin it, but at he same time he wanted to get closer to Lily, "It's a little chilly over here, let's go sit by the fire." He suggested tentatively.

"Ok, sure." Agreed Lily. They brought their drinks and the two dessert plates over to the hearth rug and sat down. They hadn't bothered to separate the dessert onto separate plates so they were sharing a dish. James was enjoying this. He was also enjoying watching Lily. She was sitting on the floor with her legs tucked under her to one side; she was leaning on one hand for support, and eating with the other. While she was cooking, she had taken off her cumbersome robe; she had rolled up the sleeves and even unbuttoned the first few buttons of her blouse. Her long red hair fell around her shoulders nicely and her bright green eyes gleamed in the firelight.

Lily was surprised to be having such a good time. She and James had not had a single argument and they were actually able to carry out not only civil, but _enjoyable _conversation. Perhaps she had had too much wine and Butterbeer, but she found herself being very giggly and flirtatious.

They did not know how much time had gone by, but they must have been there talking for hours, because a House Elf interrupted them at 10:00 pm, piping, "The kitchens is closing now Sir and Madam."

They got up and hurried out the door. It was past curfew and they would be in trouble if they were caught out late, considering they were Head Boy and Girl. They heard the caretaker's wheezy breath coming from around the corner. "We're done for." Whispered Lily.

"Quick, this way." He said. He grabbed her hand and led her a short way down the hallway, shook hands with a suit of armour which opened up a hole in the wall and led them into a narrow passageway.

"Wow." Said Lily, impressed once again. "How did you know this was here?"

"I have my ways." He said smoothly. Lily chose not to ask. The passage led them almost directly to the portrait of the Fat Lady. They entered the common room to find it completely deserted except for a few fifth years sitting in a corner doing homework.

"Well tonight was fun, I had a really good time." Said Lily, "Maybe we should, er, do it again sometime."

James's face lit up, "Yeah, for sure!"

"Goodnight James." Said Lily, then she did the thing she had been debating with herself whether or not to do all night: she kissed him swiftly on the cheek.

"Night." He said touching the place where she had kissed him, and he retreated up the boys' staircase in a euphoric daze.


	5. Chapter 5

Tie Game

Chapter 5- Eating

The next day, James and Lily were both preparing to leave Hogwarts for the Christmas Vacation. Neither had packed, as both of them had been a little preoccupied the night before. Having both packed hurriedly that morning, they met each other along the way to the Great Hall and enjoyed a late breakfast together.

They met with Sirius and Mirena, who were also going home for the holidays, and found a carriage to take them all to Hogsmeade Station. They hurried through the snow, into the warmth of the Hogwarts Express. They found an empty compartment easily as many people were remaining at school over the holidays.

Sirius and Mirena wasted no time, and immediately began snogging. Lily and James exchanged exasperated looks. They sat in awkward silence for a while until Lily suggested they play Exploding Snap. Sirius and Mirena only broke apart after a particularly violent explosion of one of James's cards and then later on when the woman with the food trolley arrived. "Food!" exclaimed Sirius. He eagerly forked over a few golden coins for an armful of sweets.

Lily was about to buy a Sugar Quill and a Licorice Wand, but an idea came to her. "Hey James, aren't we supposed to have an eating contest?"

"Oh yeah." He said, he had actually momentarily forgotten about their competition. He was just enjoying spending time with the girl he had fawned over for the past six years. She had also pointedly ignored him for the past six years, but now, she was willingly spending time with him, and she seemed to be enjoying it.

He truly hoped she really was spending time with him because she wanted to, not just because of the competition, or because her friends hung around with his friends, or because they had their Head Boy and Girl duties together. He thought Lily must like him; she had kissed him. Well, on the cheek. But what had that kiss really meant? Did she really like him, or was it out of pity?

"Well," said Lily, interrupting his thoughts, "How about we get this over with right now." She indicated a large tray of Pumpkin Pasties with a jerk of her head.

James nodded, then continued to think. _"Get this over with."_ What did that mean? Get the competition over with so she could stop hanging around with him, or get the eating task over with so they could enjoy the rest of the trip. James had never agonized so much over a girl before. He was always calm and collected and most definitely never unsure. With Lily though, he was very unsure. Lily was not like any other girl he had ever been with, she was unique, that was part of why he liked her so much.

By the time James had come out of his trance, Lily had separated a load of Pumpkin Pasties between the two of them and Sirius was holding a stopwatch.

"James?" Lily inquired, "Were you listening to a word I said?"

"What?" he asked blearily, "Oh no, sorry, I zoned out a bit there. What was that?"

Lily rolled her eyes, "I said, we each get twenty-five Pumpkin Pasties, whoever eats them all the fastest wins. Sirius and Mirena will time us."

"Sounds good." Said James. He put his game face on and stared her straight in the eyes.

Lily stared right back. He could see she had that competitive gleam in her eyes, the very same one she had just before a Quidditch match. He loved it when she looked like that.

Mirena began to speak, James continued to look at Lily, but reverted all of his attention back to eating the Pumpkin Pasties. "Ready? Set? Go!" cried Mirena, as Sirius pressed the start button on the stop watch.

Lily and James both grabbed the nearest Pasty. James shoved it in his mouth, while Lily was able to eat it relatively gracefully bite by bite, but still quickly. James was in awe; who else could look so attractive while eating twenty-five Pumpkin Pasties? They were evenly matched until about the tenth Pasty, when Lily started to slow down.

Mirena looked at her friend with disgust and said, "You're making me feel sick."

Whilst Sirius gazed at the food longingly, "You're making me feel hungry!" he exclaimed.

Lily took the time to give him a disparaging look, then went back to her Pasties. She glanced at James, who was stuffing two Pasties in his mouth at the same time with ease. His pile was dwindling steadily. She looked at her own which was much larger. She stuffed a few more in her mouth with good grace.

When Lily had five more left, James was stuffing his last one is his mouth. He quickly chewed and swallowed, then opened his mouth and wagged his tongue around in Sirius's face to show that he was done. Sirius turned away disgustedly and looked down at the stopwatch; his eyes opened wide in surprise. "Two minutes, eighteen seconds! That's got to be some sort of record!" He patted his friend on the back proudly in a congratulatory manner. Lily and Mirena rolled their eyes. Boys could be so weird.

James turned to Lily, "Lily, do you think you could remind me of the score?"

"Yes James," she said exasperatedly, "You're winning 3-2 now."

He grinned with satisfaction, he mouthed "thank you" to non-existent applause, and bowed and blew kisses to the empty compartment. James realized he was reverting back to his old immature ways and immediately stopped acting like a prat.

"So Lily," he started, "Er, what are you doing for Christmas over the break?"

Lily was glad of his change of attitude, "Well we're having Christmas at our house this year, so I have a load of obscure relatives coming in from all over the place. It'll be crazy at my house for about a week, between cooking and cleaning and people coming and going. But after that my family and I are going on a skiing holiday, so that'll be fun."

"Skiing? What's that?" asked James curiously.

Mirena, being a half-blood witch, knew all about skiing and promptly grabbed Sirius and began kissing him again.

When Lily was finished explaining, James was nearly in tears. "So you're planning on strapping wooden planks to your feet and sliding down a mountain covered in snow and ice? And Muggles think that it's fun?" he asked skeptically, in-between laughs.

"Well, yes." Said Lily with a shrug of her shoulders, "It's actually really quite enjoyable." James was unconvinced. "Well, what are _you_ planning on doing during your holidays that's so much better than skiing?" she asked.

"Sirius is spending Christmas at my house so we'll find plenty to amuse ourselves with." He said deviously, with a mischievous gleam in his eye.

"Oh, your poor parents," said Lily teasing him, "Imagine having to live with the two of you for a whole three weeks."

The rest of the train ride passed similarly; James and Lily exchanged funny stories about Christmases past and plans for the coming year. Time passed quickly and both were surprised when the Hogwarts Express pulled up at Platform 9 ¾.

Lily, James, Sirius and Mirena all grabbed their trunks from the luggage rack and lugged them out onto the platform. As they stepped out on to the platform, Lily saw a man with a mop of what must have used to be jet black hair, but was now flecked with gray, and a woman with James's pointy nose and hazel eyes, converge on the two boys before her. Mrs. Potter gave both Sirius and James a motherly hug and kiss, which they both shrugged off embarrassedly, while Mr. Potter gave them a welcoming slap on the back.

Mrs. Potter looked curiously at the two girls, then looked at Sirius and James expectantly. "Oh right. This is Mirena, my girlfriend." Said Sirius promptly.

"And this is my, er, this is Lily." Said James.

The Potters greeted them both warmly but Mrs. Potter insisted they must be getting on. Sirius and Mirena engaged in a very passionate good-bye kiss right in front of the Potters. James was not sure how to say good-bye to Lily. He was not entirely sure how appropriate a kiss would be, especially in front of his parents.

"Have a good holiday," he began, "And a Happy Christmas."

"You too." Said Lily, she felt slightly awkward.

"Have fun skiing." Said James with a grin.

Lily loved how he could make any awkward situation humorous, "I will." She promised, "Have fun pranking your poor parents with Sirius."

"Oh, I will." He assured her.

"Good-bye James." Said Lily and she wrapped her arms around him in a farewell hug.

"Good-bye Lily." He responded and hugged her back.

Lily gave him a small peck on the cheek and without a glance backwards, she walked through the barrier and was gone in the blink of an eye.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: So sorry for the horrendously long wait in-between chapters. I had major writer's block and I've been so busy and I'm getting tired of this story, I just want it to end. Thankfully the last chapter is already written, so only one more chapter left to write. I'm almost done, yay! This chapter is slightly longer than usual, so hopefully that makes up for such a long wait.

Tie Game

Chapter 6- Dueling

When they returned from the Christmas holidays James and Lily greeted each other warmly and were friendlier with each other than ever.

Their next task was to be a wizard's duel between the two of them, but neither was looking forward to it. Neither James nor Lily was particularly fond of the idea of hexing, cursing, jinxing, or otherwise harming each other.

A few months ago, Lily would have been glad for an opportunity to duel James, but now she was dreading the prospect of it.

However, neither of them was able to shelve their pride and admit they did not want to go through with the duel, so rather than confront each other they continued on as if nothing was wrong. James came up with a brilliant plan consisting of giving Lily a note confirming the time and place of the duel (midnight, Trophy Room) and then proceeding to leave said note where the school caretaker was likely to stumble upon it (the floor of his office), thereupon he would catch Lily and James before they were able to duel at all, resulting in nothing more than a detention.

The set date for the duel drew closer and since neither one said a word otherwise, they proceeded to the Trophy Room at midnight. They hadn't so much as bowed to each other, when the caretaker came bursting threw the door, "Aha, Head Boy and Girl up after hours! And dueling no less!" he cried victoriously, "Detention both of you! In fact, since you seem to enjoy spending time in the Trophy Room past curfew, why don't you spend a few hours tidying the place up, no magic allowed."

James and Lily silently handed over their wands after summoning the required cleaning supplies. "I'll be back for you in three hours. That should give you plenty of time to clean everything." He sneered, skulking out of the room.

"Well, we'd better get started." Said Lily grabbing a mouldy looking rag and dunking it in the bucket of soapy water and heading towards the nearest trophy case.

James stuck his head out the door and after ensuring the coast was clear, pulled out what appeared to be his wand from his back pocket.

Lily turned, "Wait. What?" she asked confusedly, "You just gave Filch your wand, but your wands there!" she said indicating the wand held loosely in his right hand.

"Lily, Lily, Lily, you didn't think I gave him my real wand did you? It was a fake." James explained.

"But don't you think he'll notice?" asked Lily tentatively.

"Nah." Replied James carelessly, "I do it all the time. Besides he's a Squib, he'll never be able to tell the difference."

"He's a Squib?" Lily paused for a moment, "Yeah, I guess that explains a lot."

James smiled, "So, I suppose you didn't think to bring a fake wand by chance, did you?"

"No, sorry." Lily replied scathingly.

"Well, I guess I'll just have to do all the work myself then." He raised his wand, made a sweeping motion across the room and shouted, "Evanesco!" Immediately the room spotless, every trophy gleamed in the dim light from the torches in brackets on the wall.

"So." James said casually, "Where to?"

"What do you mean, _Where to?_ We're not going anywhere. What if we get caught?" she said scandalized.

"They can't catch us if they can't see us." Said James, whipping out a shimmering piece of fabric from another pocket.

"An Invisibility Cloak?" Lily said in an awed whisper.

"It used to be my father's. He gave it to me when he bought a new one." Explained James.

"Wow," Lily said, "But won't Filch come to check on us every once and a while?"

"That's what this is for." James said pulling a piece of faded parchment out of yet another pocket.

Lily wondered vaguely how many more pockets James had in his robs and how much stuff he could possibly fit in them, but she was much more interested in what he was saying.

"Prepare to be amazed." He said, then tapping it with his wand, muttered, "I solemnly swear I am up to no good."

Immediately thousands of black lines and dots swirled into action, forming a map of Hogwarts and bearing the words:

_Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs are proud to present_

_The Marauder's Map_

"This shows every room, every secret passageway, and every person in Hogwarts and on its grounds." James told her, unable to keep the pride out of his voice.

"Wow, you made this? You and Sirius and Remus and Peter?" she asked, amazed.

"Yep." James replied simply.

Lily was mesmerized. A thousand tiny black dots labeled with each person in Hogwarts' name stared back at her from the parchment. They were mostly stock still, fast asleep in their beds in their respective dormitories, but a few others were up and out of bed. She and James were standing next to each other in the Trophy Room; Filch was sitting in his office, his new pet kitten, Mrs. Norris, he had purchased to be his partner in punishment was sitting nest to him; Professor Slughorn was walking towards his desk in his office (evidently for a midnight snack because Lily knew that desk to contain copious amounts of crystallized pineapple, having been in there many times do to the Slug Club); and the dots labeled Sirius Black and Mirena Fitzpatrick were together in a secret passageway on the third floor, one dot barely distinguishable from the other.

"This is incredible." She muttered.

"With this, I figure we'll be able to keep an eye on Filch." Said James, "We can check if he's heading towards to the Trophy Room."

Lily gazed at James for a moment and a look of dawning comprehension arose on her face. This was how he knew so much about the castle, this was how he never got caught, this was why all the girls loved him.

"So this is why all these girls are madly in love with you? You show them all this amazing stuff, and these places you've discovered and you're all sweet and charming and they go crazy for you?" she asked accusingly.

James looked taken aback, "Honestly Lily, you're the first girl I've shown all of this." He looked so sincere, she had to believe him. And now she thought about it, not once had she ever heard anyone talking about how sweet James was and how smart he was. She had only ever heard girls gushing about what a good kisser he was, or what nice abs he had (something Lily could actually attest to as he frequently removed his shirt at Quidditch practice).

"Well, what are we waiting for?" asked Lily, heading towards the doorway, "Let's go!"

James proceeded to show Lily the many secrets of Hogwarts he and the other marauders had discovered over the years. He even let her wear his Invisibility Cloak and scare Nearly Headless Nick, Gryffindor's resident ghost. And much to Lily's amusement, he also pulled a few more items out of his pockets. They had lots of fun wandering the castle and Lily now fully understood why James and his friends did this so much. As well they had a chance to talk to each other and to get to know each other better. They also both ended up admitting that neither had wanted to duel in the first place and decided to call off that part of their competition.

The evening was coming to an end, but there was one more thing James wanted to show Lily. "Come here," he said, "I want to show you something." He grabbed Lily by the hand and led her on until they were in front of a blank stretch of wall, behind them was a tapestry depicting Barnabas the Barmy's attempt to teach trolls to do ballet. "Now concentrate on a place, it could be real or it could exist only in your imagination. Concentrate very hard on it, and walk past this tapestry three times."

Lily looked at him skeptically, but did as she was told. As soon as she had turned the third time, a door appeared. Lily smiled hesitantly. James nodded encouragingly and together they reached for the door handle. As they stepped inside, Lily gasped. It was not a particularly spectacular sight, but she had only ever seen it in her dreams, and it seemed impossible that this place actually existed in Hogwarts. They were in the middle of a clearing in what seemed to be a tropical rainforest. It had beautiful, exotic plants and flowers all around, and in front of them laid a beautiful and majestic waterfall. Though in reality it was past midnight, in the room, the way the brightly shining sun was hitting the water created a beautiful rainbow.

"What is this place?" Lily asked.

"The Room of Requirement." James stated, "It's a magical room that you can turn into anything you want." James elaborated, "Sirius discovered it one day when he was pacing in the hallway, looking for a place to hide his- well er, never mind, it's not that important, but you get the picture."

Lily giggled. "It's brilliant." she said, awestruck. She took a few tentative steps forwards, as if testing if the ground beneath her really existed. Evidently convinced it was real, Lily peeled off her socks and shoes and waded into the pool of water at the bottom of the waterfall. "Ooh, I wish it was warmer!" she said backing up a few steps. Then she stopped. She looked questioningly at James, "The water." she said, "It just got warmer."

James laughed. "Yeah, it does that. This room, if you need something, the Room makes it happen." He explained.

"That's fantastic." Lily exclaimed.

"There's only one thing it can't do." he said, "It can't make someone do something against their will. However if both or all people involved want the same thing to happen, then the Room can make it happen."

Lily wasn't quite sure she understood, but nodded anyways. After wading in the water a bit more, she got out, wished her legs would dry off (they did), then bent to sit on the ground next to James, who had been sitting there, watching her amusedly the entire time. She sat close to him and very much wanted him to put his arm around her as she was slightly chilly. He did so. Lily was confused, James had said the Room couldn't make people do things, then comprehension dawned. What James had said now made sense, _if both people involved want something to happen; the Room can make it happen. _Obviously James had wanted to put his arm around her and when she had wanted the same thing, the magic of the Room made it happen.

They cuddled together for a while longer, checking the map every so often to make sure Filch wasn't anywhere near the Trophy Room. They watched the imaginary sun go down and listened to the peaceful sound of the waterfall.

As the evening went on, Lily and James came closer and closer together, until Lily was practically on James's lap. As Lily shifted positions, James wrapped his arm closer around her waist, and an idea struck him. He bent his head closer and kissed her on the lips.

As soon as it had happened, he knew it was a bad idea. He began apologizing profusely. "I'm so sorry Lily, I don't know what came over me. I mean, I've been thinking about it all night, and I know you don't think of me that way but- oh. _Oh._" James paused for a moment and silently thanked the magic of the Room, "So, you, er, you do think of me that way?"

Lily smiled and nodded. James grinned back, then bent down to kiss her again.

Midway through the kiss, through Lily squealed and pulled away.

James groaned, "I'm sorry Lily, it's just-"

She cut him off, "No, it's not you, it's Filch! He's headed towards the Trophy Room!" she said pointing at the Marauder's Map which was laying on the floor beside them.

"Damnit." said James, then in a moment of quick thinking, shouted, "Accio broom." summoning his broomstick. He caught it, mounted it, then pulled Lily on behind him, and ensured they were both covered with his Invisibility Cloak.

He sped off towards the Trophy Room and made it in the nick of time. He banished his broom and pocketed his wand and his Cloak, and picked up a dirty rag, just as Filch was entering the room.

"You two miscreants done yet?" Filch barked at them.

"Yes, sir." replied James, replacing the dirty rag in the bucket of soapy water. "We've just finished, sir."

The caretaker inspected the nearest trophy case, then cast a look at the rest of the room. He couldn't seem to find a thing wrong with it for he handed them back their wands and sent them off to bed.

When they were back in the common room they said good night and engaged once more in a passionate kiss. Finally they parted and retreated up the stairs to their respective dormitories feeling that this was, by far, the best detention either of them had ever served.


	7. Chapter 7

Tie Game

Chapter 7- Acting

Lily and James were sitting in the common room one evening trying to decide what they were going to do about the acting part of their competition.

"Well, I suppose we could do something Shakespearean." Lily suggested, "Oh, but of course you don't know who Shakespeare is. He's a very famous Muggle playwright who-"

"I know who Shakespeare is." James said plainly.

"You do?" Lily asked curiously.

James looked at her blankly, "Of course, he was a wizard."

"He- what?" asked Lily, taken aback.

"He was a wizard." Repeated James, "He wasn't very well liked by some in his time because he lived amongst the Muggles and divulged a little too much information in Macbeth, but he's still incredibly famous."

Lily took a moment to let this information sink in. "Wow, I had no idea, but I guess it makes sense. So it's agreed. Shakespeare."

James shrugged, "Sounds good to me, but which play? He's written like thirty-something, hasn't he?"

"I think we should do something famous, something everyone's heard of." Lily said.

"I agree, then everyone will understand it, and they'll have something to compare us to while they're judging us." Replied James, "I also think we should just do one scene, not the whole play."

Lily nodded her head, "For sure, it would be pretty difficult to do an entire play with just two people. So which scene shall we do?"

"Well, there's Hamlet's "To be or not to be" speech." Suggested James.

"Nah, too many people in that scene, we need a scene with only two people in it." Lily reminded him.

For some reason James blushed, "We could do the balcony scene in Romeo and Juliet." He said rather sheepishly, not meeting her eyes.

Lily smiled at him, "Ok, that works well; everyone's heard of it and it's just the two of them, yeah, it's perfect."

"Great!" exclaimed James, "I'll drop by the library during lunch tomorrow and pick up two copies of the play."

"Ok and we can do a line run through tomorrow night while we're patrolling the hallways." She said brightly.

"Brilliant." James said. He hugged Lily and gave her a quick peck on the lips, "See you in the morning."

Over the next three months Lily ad James practiced in nearly every moment of free time they had. It seemed they were running lines more often than studying for their N.E.W.T.S. When it was finally perfected, Lily and James put up announcements in the common room, everyone in Gryffindor House was invited to come and watch, and take part in the judging. They decided everyone who wanted to would vote as to who was the better actor and whoever received the most votes would get the point for the competition.

The day of the show, James was excited and enthusiastic and did not seem nervous at all, Lily on the other hand was frazzled and worried she would forget her lines. She had been in plays before, but that was back in primary school when she participated in plays like Jack and the Beanstalk and Little Red Riding Hood, this was _Shakespeare._

A makeshift stage had been set up in the common room. Lily peaked out from behind the curtain but immediately withdrew her head with a squeal when she saw how many people had come to watch them perform. Even Professors McGonagall and Dumbledore had come to watch.

She turned and saw James walking by casually. "Oh James," she said, "I'm so nervous."

"Thou dost not worry, fair Juliet, all shall go well. Calm thyself." James grinned.

Despite James' ridiculous attempt at Elizabethan language, Lily's nerves were slightly relaxed.

The performance went extremely well; neither Lily nor James forgot a single line, and everyone whooped very loudly when they executed a lovely stage-kiss.

Later that night they tallied the results… it was a tie. Lily and James had received the exact same number of votes. This was getting ridiculous…

A/N: Sorry it's so short… Next chapter is the last and it will be longer and better. I promise I'll update soon!


	8. Chapter 8

Tie Game

Chapter 8- Swimming

It was a hot afternoon at the end of June, after the exams were over and James and Lily decided to have the last part of their contest: swimming. James and Lily traipsed across the grounds to the lake, towels in hand, closely followed by Sirius and Mirena who were to judge the race.

They stopped under the great beech tree by the waters' edge. Lily put down her towel and slipped off her shoes, shorts and her t-shirt. James was halfway through peeling off his own shirt when he paused and stared in awe. Lily filled out her bathing suit very nicely in his opinion. She pretended not to notice his indecent ogling, put her hair in a ponytail, left her clothes in a neat pile by the tree and waded into the water until she was waist deep.

The splashing shook James out of his reverie. He too stripped down to his trunks, placed his glasses on top of the pile and strode into the water. "So Lily," he called out, "Remind me what the score is again."

"You're up 3-2, but not for long. I'm really good at swimming. I used to compete all the time, I've got loads of medals and trophies at home." she told him.

"We'll see." He said as he drew level with her.

"Ok," said Lily, "We'll race from here to that bank over there, touch the side of it, then swim back, first to touch the beech tree wins."

"Sounds good to me. You got that Sirius." James called.

Sirius looked up, he had his arm around Mirena and she had her head rested on his shoulder. "Uh, yeah, sure- here, there, back, beach tree." He said lazily.

"You say go." Said Lily to Sirius.

"Alright, ready, set, go!"

They were off. Lily hadn't been lying, she was a good swimmer. They had started out at about the same speed, but soon Lily had overtaken James; by the time he had reached the bank, she was already halfway back to the beech tree.

When James got to the other side, Lily had gotten back in the water and was floating around leisurely on her back. "'Bout time," she said teasingly smirking, "I suppose that makes it tie game once again."

"Three all," he said, "I suppose it does."

"It's so nice out, I think I'm going to stay here a while longer. Are you going to head in?" Lily asked.

"Well, I was supposed to do something with Sirius, but if we stay out a bit longer, I don't think he'll mind." He said, his eyes flicking over his shoulder to where Sirius and Mirena were entwined beneath the tree, snogging fiercely.

Lily giggles, "Yes, he looks a little preoccupied at the moment." She reached up and pulled her hair out of its ponytail and shook her head so her hair would fall about her shoulders, but James was hit by the spray.

"Hey!" he said splashing her back playfully.

Lily's mouth dropped open in mock surprise, "How dare you?" she said grinning from ear to ear. They went back and forth for a long time and even devised a plan to annoy Sirius and Mirena. They snuck up behind them and embraced them tightly, soaking them both. This plan worked fairly well as Sirius and Mirena retreated to the castle so they could snog in peace.

Lily ran back into the water and stood with her hand on her jutting out hip teasingly. James ran after her and lunged himself at her legs. He succeeded in making her lose her balance and they both collapsed in a fit of uncontrollable laughter, sitting in the shallow water, nearly on top of each other.

When they both finally stopped laughing, they leaned into each other exhausted but content. "So what are we going to do about this tie?" James asked nudging Lily playfully.

"Well, let's see," She said logically, "I'm better at potions, chess and swimming, we're equally good at acting and we decided to call of the duel, and you've got me beat when it comes to eating, cooking and Quidditch. What else can we do?"

They sat in silence for a few moments until James' face lit up the way it did when he had devised a clever prank. "I think I know how we can decide this once and for all." He said coyly.

Lily was enticed by the tone of his voice, but slightly suspicious. She gave him a curios look.

He just smiled and wrapped his arm around her waist; Lily felt a shiver up her spine. James pulled her closer; her hands were on his chest. He leaned in to kiss her, slowly and gently at first, then Lily leaned in even further, and deepened the kiss. Her hands moved up until they were wrapped around his neck and James' hands had found their way into her hair. James began to pull away, Lily was reluctant, but let him. He was still barely an inch from her face. "Well that settles it," he said, he gave her a small peck on the lips, "you are definitely," he kissed her again, "the better," and again, "kisser."

Lily laughed, "Hmm, I dunno," she said, "I'd say it's still tie game. But you know what? I think we might need a re-match."

The End

A/N: Yay! It's finished! I hope you enjoyed it.


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